The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, SEPT 4, 1883. The Unemployed.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 39, 4 September 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, SEPT 4, 1883. The Unemployed.

It is a significant fact that very pooh after the Colonial Treasurer made his statement'to the effect that the absence oi appeals from the unemployed was a direct evidence of the general prosperity of i he Colony a working* men's agitation was worked up in the South Island, in those centres of pojiulntion irom whence Opposition members are returned to the House. It seems as if the hint thus given was rapidly taken advantage of, and interested persona followed it up. It is an easy matter at any time to stir up die t% hlntant pothouse politician " to active SDeech, and a following- of the idle and worthless is soon obtained from those who hang- about -street corners in fear and dread of having; to work. These are the men who do injury to the real working- man, for they have plenty of spare time to brood over imaginary wrongs, and to concoct schemes of mischief against all and everyone of those who are prosperous by the exercise of mental or bodily activity. They are familiar with all the claptrap cries which, although old as the hills (withou' being 1 venerable} are invariably re produced when occasion oroppor.tunity requires th<m, They know to the value of a pint of beer what they should get for their service.- when there was a likelihood of a popular outcry being raised ag-aiosf the Government or any other employers of labor. It seems that such an occasion was offered and greedily taken advantage of in Dunedin by an interested few. The population of Utago is estimated at 134,077; and that of its capital, Dunedin, 24,372. Out of this grand number, all the unemployed that could be mustered at the Queen's Theatre a few days ago was 200 — this was the outside estimate. The speakers were up to the usual mark, and broad appeals to the charity of the public at Dunedin were made, whilst the Government came in for an amount of criticism, characteristic of the class who pron.oted the meeting-. Strong- objection was taken to the immigration policy of the Government, whereby labor was imported into the Cclony to compete with men who could not find work, and so on ad nauseura. One man said that " a man could cot live on the wages offered by the Government, and as British subjects th'-y had a right to work and wages and they sh uld be determined to have them. Unless they were determined to have them, they might as well go Home and starve, or take their wives and families to the beach and throw them into the sea, and then follow diem. They ought to demand work, and if thoy could not get it, they should s^eal bread and go to gaol; their wives and families would be Jooked after by the Benevolent Institution, and they themselves would be supported by the Government, and would only have to work." This was a fair specimen of the speeches made, end showed the utter absence of anything- like selfreliance in the minds of the hearers, for these sentiments Btruck a responsive chord in their hearts, and elicited tumultuous applause. On the whole the attempt to ret up an agitation against the Government on the I grounds that more public works should be taken in hand in order to make work for the unemployed, is a flat contradiction of the proft-esed sentiments of some of the Southern Members, who have stated that too much has already been done in this direction. To an ordinary mind, unbiassed by the passions of party feeling-, it. appears singular that men can be found in a civilised community so far debased as to attempt to injure the credit ot the whole Colony to gratify their own private feelings of spleen, and desire for a petiy ruvenga on the

lembors ol the Ministry. Lee them iud some more Oi>on and manly way f df fearing their political opponents?, n<i not resort to such cunte-uiptible leans as the*e. If there arc uiiem,>!oved in Duueiliu, ami tlu-ir total ■hioilkt i.= 200, and these are of a clas-* o applaud a man who would encours^e his l<?llow\s to steal for a living, it. is devoutly to be huped that, such •ersoris will nut be pnco'irasrwl to rransphmt themselves to the North Island.